Thank God it's almost over...

So congrats, politicians. I really wanted to care this year, I did.

Here in Missouri, Claire McCaskill raised $7,310,483 for her campaign and Jim Talent raised $21,477,711 (and this was as of the end of September!). What did this money go toward? Angry, venomous commercials that do nothing but make people depressed that they don’t have better candidates to vote for. Yeah, Claire looks like the lesser of two evils, and yeah, stem cell research will get me to the polls, but...once again this year, with Election Day tomorrow I’m looking forward not to making a difference and voting, but to getting my TV back and no longer having to watch commercials that do nothing but put people down or answer the phone to one of auto-generated ads (or be awoken from a nap at 8pm tonight because someone wanted to remind me to vote...yeah, thanks).

For yet another election cycle, we have lost sight of real issues. Once again, it’s all about money. And while I realize this is nothing new...it’s just that, every time I try to care, the life just gets sucked out of me again. What is wrong with this country (we’ve seen the warning signs and have done nothing about it) is that it is no longer about intelligence or innovation that gets you ahead. It’s who you know and how much money you have. If you’re in high school, that will make you popular. If you’re a politician, that will get you elected. We’ve been lagging behind other countries for a while now, and nobody cares. I want to believe that one day someone will get elected who actually has ideas about more than just how to get reelected. Someone who has ideas about how to save the environment and close the gap between the rich and poor. But that day will never come because those in charge (both corporations and individuals in power) will never let that person see the light of day.

Again, this is nothing new, but...*sigh*.

I raise my glass to you, Next Class of Elected Officials. Here’s hoping for mediocrity. It would be an improvement.

I think berlin niebuhr’s cynicism has rubbed off on me. Then again, I’m pretty sure I was born this way.